I was sitting at the beginning of row 3 on the right hand side. (Block C) Despite paying £75 , my view was somewhat restricted by the speakers.

Leonard and the band were sublime as usual, however as other forum members have noted there was one rather large security guy (with a pot belly) whose sole aim was to make trouble.
He proceeded to harass a man on the front row (something to do with a phone) and at the encores when a number of middle aged very respectable looking people made their way towards the front, he directed them back to their seats in a forceful and intimidating manner. During Hallelujah he made so much noise ostracising the chap with the phone it was quite distracting. I really feel a complaint about this particular so called security man should be made to the LG arena.

Update to my annoyance about the LG Arena, Birmingham and seats with restricted views
They replied and pointed the finger firmly at AEG. I sent my complaint to AEG and have had no response at all yet.
I hope that someone tells the Cohen camp that their promoters are ripping people off and hiding behind the fact that they are giving us forum members "special treatment" by allowing us to buy in advance.
Jarkko does a brilliant job on behalf of everyone but judging by the threads, this is not the first time this has happened.
Right, rant over.

AndrewGMooney wrote:the Royal Albert Hall in 2008 was a night so sublime that I stopped going to concerts for the next 4 years to avoid having to compare other dross with that 'peak experience'

Andrew

It is a great shame that you have let your feelings about all these other issues get in the way of your enjoyment of Leonard's live performances. The shows and more particularly Leonard's performances are infinitely more sublime than they were back in the "early" days of November 2008. I thought the RAH shows in 1993 were the best concerts I would ever go to in my life. I was wrong. It genuinely does keep on getting better and no, this is not sycophantic dross. I would say if I thought otherwise.

It's also a great shame that you choose to insult those of us who continue to enjoy the shows to make your points.

Wendy

Wendy

Entertainment doesn't exist in a vacuum in my life. The personal is the political, and choosing to endorse what I regard as unethical consumer experiences is not for me. I've heard some people who saw the show say it just gets better, whilst others report they feel it's now a bit stale. I'm pleased I attended in 2008 before the scandals and dramas of the last year or so.

I don't think that everyone who finds great pleasure is sychophantic, some members of an audience can enjoy a performance without analysing the context and other issues that inform the show. Some people don't even think about consumer ethics in any purchasing decisions they make. That's not better, or worse, just diversity.

I made some terse remarks, but don't accept I've insulted anyone in particular, Or if I have, my displeasure is directed at everyone who endorses any rip-off corporate music event: not just attendees at Leonard Cohen concerts. There's a crisis in the wider culture. AEG. Ticketmaster and most acts seem intent on destroying live music. The artists can hardly claim to be unaware of the ethical issues surrounding their performances. That would be delusional.

A long time ago, though, I learned that it is the ART that matters - I don't really give a hang for the person who produces the art, their corporate backers, or the feelings of the rest of their audience.

The concert experience in these venues is rarely a great one, except for those sitting at or near the front (and even then, as some postings on this section testify, not always even for them). That's why I carefully research the venue beforehand (site views are available on youtube, etc) and weigh up the pros and cons of atttending: will I get value for money/will the experience justify the price, etc? With LC, I would say the experience - provided it's from a decent vantage point - does justify the price. There's certainly no one else I'd pay this kind of money to see.

I can't say definitively but I suspect you may be right about the ultimate motives behind the tour; and I think you're certainly right about the motivation of the sponsors (but what else would you expect)? In the great scheme of things, they don't really matter - all that matters is your own experience and if your experience this time has not been good, you're entitled to feel aggrieved (with the provisos I mention above).

I don't buy into the worship of LC as some kind of 'higher being' - which is why I prefer not to refer to him familiarly. I've never met him, never will meet him and am not bothered about this. Leonard Cohen the individual - and his reasons for doing these tours - are immaterial to me. I enjoy his art and it's the art I'm paying to experience.

My advice, for what it's worth: keept the CDs. You enjoy them, so why should you let your feelings about the man get in the way.

Needless to add, I don't feel you've insulted me at all.

Parsifal

Very interesting comment about not being affected by audience dynamics at events.

I think the seat-allocation algorithm of these corporate shows is very troubling, with many of the best tickets clearly retained for secondary resale, and not released to those who book first. You're right, you have to do forensic research to avoid a rip-off, as further comments ont his thread show with regard to Birmingham.

No, Leonard Cohen is most definitely not a 'higher being'. I'll listen to his music again when there's some clarity about what he knew about that Roshi character, and when. At the moment, there's too much cognitive dissonance to overcome. Time will tell what effect this abuse crisis will have on his legacy and reputation, but as a member of the Mount Baldy management team over the years, he really can't evade a public
statement for ever. His continued 'Jikan' silence is, in fact, an unintentionally eloquent statement.

I'm delighted you didn't feel insulted by my observations! I've never understood why folk find variant opinion offensive. It's how culture evolves. Leonard certainly was an effective cultural engineer back in the day, that's why I'm struggling to understand what appears to be a major descent on many levels. It seems that some people have such a 'sunk investment' in the idea of Leonard being a good guy that they can't process disturbing information suggesting a more complex ethical profile.

There's a crisis in the wider culture. AEG. Ticketmaster and most acts seem intent on destroying live music. The artists can hardly claim to be unaware of the ethical issues surrounding their performances. That would be delusional.

best wishes

Andrew[/quote]

Hi andrew
Good points in your posts
Maybe 'destroying live music' is too extreme a term but i agree i am no fan of these large corporations charging high prices , charging extortionate fees , holding back the best seats in an attempt to sell them off as 'vip seats' at ludicrous prices ,making attendance impossible for those on a modest income , maximising their own not inconsiderable profits and so on .
Leonard is no doubt aware of it and tries to disarm by cracking jokes about endangering household budgets .Nonetheless it has been good for my quality of life to let that all go, at least temporarily, to experience many sublime concerts in which Leonard and the band really delivered on ' giving all we got' from an artistic perspective Wouldn't have been possible though if I didn't have a reasonable' household budget' !
You are right about cognitive dissonance - Leonard's lines,sung at every concert , like ' the rich get rich the poor stay poor ..everybody knows' remain apt and touch on the ethical dilemmas you redraw our attention to.
For me the way out of the dissonance is awareness of the personal meaning to me of being at these concerts - not letting my distaste of promoter and ticket agencies 'bully me around' to the extent that i deprive myself of sublime artistic evenings that will remain preciously in the memory for , i would think, the rest of my life .

Time for a guest post, methinks. Here is a review of a recent concert by the one and only Leonard Cohen. I wasn’t lucky enough to be there myself, but the pseudonymous Miss Lemon certainly was, and here are her reflections on the performance.

–0–

Merveilleux, superbe, meraviglioso, di sogno – I have run out of English superlatives to even try to begin to describe the masterclass that was Leonard Cohen’s Old Ideas concert (NG Arena 8 September 2013). It’s not often that you can put the words magical and Birmingham in the same sentence (spoken as a Brummie) but this was one such occasion.

My initial introduction to the venerable man was as a teenager in the mid-70s. Whilst my parents and I sat downstairs probably watching something like Family at War, upstairs my slightly older, and much more in touch with her poetic side, teenage sister would allow the, as I/we heard it then, drones of Leonard Cohen to seep through the ceiling, much to the familial annoyance below. However, sometime later intrigued as to quite what this dirge-like music was, whilst Sis was back at school (I was fortunate to have longer school holidays), I listened to the Songs of Leonard Cohen and was bewitched by the, as I now realise, legend that is Leonard.

I first saw Mr Cohen back in the early ‘80s – a memorable and unexpectedly good-humoured concert – but nothing could have prepared me for Sunday’s dreamlike experience. His voice even more distinctive than I remember it and now ‘aged into a worn leather bass’. An audience whose ages ranged from early 20s to late 70s filled the cavernous halls of the NG Arena in Birmingham. A large number of men of a certain age, not all with balding pates and ponytails, were adorned with Cohen fedoras and the first vision on the stage was that of all of the band wearing fedoras so that immediate identification of the great man himself was made a little difficult, which brought a wry smile to the assembled throng in the forum.

His nine-piece band, among them a glorious violin virtuoso, proved more than suitable playmates. An appealing alchemy of Leonard at his self-deprecating best enchanting us with songs old and new, the beautiful and haunting version of Alexandra Leaving sung by Sharon Robinson – even after three hours, like a bird on the wire, hey why not ask for more?

The esteemed Mr Cohen – modest and most generous of spirit – age has not diminished his ability to pen glorious words and sublime songs and to send 10,000 people home with a smile which would last even longer than his concert, nor has it dimmed the twinkle in his eye. He was indeed ‘born with the gift of a golden voice’.